Although I loved the Rough Riders movie on TNT, they got the character Buckey O'Neill wrong. This book will set you straight on a forgotten hero, who did more in 38 years than most men would do in a life time. Just how far would he have gone had he not been killed at Kettle Hill? The next time that I'm on Whiskey Row, I will give a toast to William Owen O'Neill. This is a great book.

Dale L. Walker's biography of O'Neill, one of the early West's most fascinating figures, is richly drawn, authoritative, and distinguished. O'Neill is best known as one of the Rough Riders of the Spanish-American War, but Walker meticulously depicts all the other facets of this legendary Arizonan. This is surely the standard work on O'Neill.

Joy Harjo is a multi-talented artist - poetry and music (with Poetic Justice) available. Here she has paired her words to Stephen Strom's photographs. His photographs of landscapes have an unusual and very effective use of colors ... many reminding me of the softness of watercolor or pastels.

Joy Harjo has provided text - somewhere between prose and prose poems - that engage the accompanying photographs to create a mythic sense. For example a photo of rose-tinted desert sand with no sky (Overlook west of Tuba City)is accompanied by "Two sisters meet on horseback. They gossip: a cousin eloped with someone's husband, twins were born to his wife. One is headed toward Tsaile, and the other to Round Rock. Their horses are rose sand, with manes of ashy rock."

An excellent book.

Nowhere have I read poetry that so completely encompasses the Native American view of the connectedness of all things. Harjo's writings, coupled with Steven Strom's photography of "Indian country" make this a book that I read over and over, each time drawing something new. It is one of the only books I've ever read that convinces me that language is "alive", as alive as we are, as alive as the shoulder bone of a mountian, as alive as a comet which streaks its way across the sky. It is my favorite book. Period.

Sedona is one of those places on earth that when you visit, you are touched by its ever changing beauty forever. This lovely offering is filled with spectacular photographs and natural history, recreation and historical information. Having visited Sedona many times, this book truly captures the essence of this unique piece of landscape that attracts so many people for its beauty, its mystical power and its outdoor activities. Northland Publishing has produced a "coffee table type book" without the often lofty ivestment expense. If you have ever made a pilgrimage to Sedona or long to visit, this is the book that you must have in your home library. Truly, a beautiful book.

This book is a must-have for every visitor to the Red Rock Country, resident, or lover of the majesty of this area. For $$$$$ this book is definitely the best deal out there! The full page, color photos are spectacular and the writing is intriguing. This is a memento of Sedona that will take you back to the beauty of this magical place no matter how far away you are.

Except for a brief prelude set in 1599, the events in this book take place during the summer and fall of 1628 in what is now Arizona. The Spanish have come to Oraibi, a Hopi village atop a mesa. Their contingent is small: a captain seeking the fabled riches of the area, a small number of soldiers, and a Franciscan priest intent on saving the savages' souls. Their arrival sets into motion not only a clash of Spanish and Hopi cultures, but also an encounter between Hopi and Navajo traditions. Morning Butterfly is a young Hopi woman who knows some Spanish, and is drafted to serve as translator for the newcomers. Cougar is a Navajo from a nearby settlement who arrives to steal the soldiers' horses. Cougar understands the Hopi language, making communication possible between these two communities. While both the Hopi and the Navajo lament the intrusion of the soldiers and the priest, they react in very different ways. The Hopi are known as the Peaceful Ones. They attempt to live with the invaders, and even, reluctantly, help him to build his church. Fray Angelico believes he may be making headway in converting the Hopi, since some submit to baptism, but it is clear to readers that the baptisms and sermons are not turning them from the own beliefs. The Navajo live as raiders, and are proud of their ability as warriors; their reaction to the Spanish is very different. A sense of tradition and place permeates this book. Words from legends, songs, and chants are woven throughout the story. Readers also learn of the two groups' beliefs through the explanations Morning Butterfly and Cougar give each other about their people. Fray Angelico and the captain represent two very different, but equally disruptive, Western attitudes: one missionary, the other exploitative of the people and land. The land is sacred to both the Hopi and Navajo, and their strong relationships with it become clear in this book. Tony Hillerman's novels have introduced me to the place and some of the beliefs in this book, but the time period is new to me. The book seems very well researched, though not intrusively so. Soul of the Sacred Earth is a compelling read. I was desperate to see the Spanish leave, so that the Hopi and Navajo societies wouldn't be further disrupted, but feared being too hopeful, knowing how history has turned out.

Trudi Jacobson, for the Historical Novels Review

Early in the seventeenth century, Spaniard Fray Angelico wants to bring the word of God to the natives living throughout the New Mexico Territory. To his shock, the Hopi ignore his plea to save these savages from the devil. Though disappointed by their rejection of his deepest beliefs, Fray tries to protect his "wards" from the greedy rulers of New Spain, especially Captain de Leiva who sees the native wealth as a means of restoring honor to his family name.

Though somewhat successful in defeating the Hopi, de Leiva finds the Navajo willing to battle back, led by Cougar. When Cougar meets the Hopi's Morning Butterfly they fall in love with one another. However, even a foreign invader who destroys everything sacred may not be enough to bind the tribes and unite the star-crossed lovers.

Vella Munn is one of the great writers of historical fiction. Her tales always make the era she writes about seem as if events are unfolding in actual time. Her latest treasure, SOUL OF THE SACRED EARTH, is a superb tale that showcases the Spanish intrusion into the lives of the Hopi and Navajo people. A bit of romance softens the impact of a tale in which tragedy seems to be the only path for all the prime players.

I read somewhere that more movies have been made about Wyatt Earp than all the U.S. presidents combined! There's something about the gunfight at the O.K. Corral that touches the mainspring of American imagination. Tombstone is the book that made Wyatt Earp famous and shaped forever our perception of him. I read Tombstone first when I was in high school back in the 1950s and I've since dipped into it countless times. Some might object to the author's purple prose and made-up dialogue and newer scholarly studies of the Earps and Tombstone may be more accurate and balanced. But Burns drew his material from interviews with old-timers and Tombstone newspapers and I'm confident that he comes about as close to fact as you can get. This is a magical tale and nobody could tell it any better than Burns.

tombstone the Iliad of the Southwest was a very informative book that keep me entertained as well as learning about the history of the people that shaped the southwest.I was very impressed how the author was able to interview many of the characters or speak to people that lived through that era.The book being writted in 1927 really brought out alot of history that would otherwise be lost.

I am reading this book and i actually had Joe Stedino sign my book before i even read it. I really think that if you like nonfiction and like crime, then you will like this book

i am lucky enough to have an authgraphed copy, and i tell you, i could'nt put it down. the things 'tony' did were incredible. anyone entering politics should have this on their mandatory reading agenda. loved it.

I read Dellenbaugh's reprinted "Canyon Voyage" (the much abbreviated title) as a young man in the flatlands of western Kansas in the 1960's. The romance of the period of Dellenbaugh's youth, and the Powell Expeditions in particular (1869-72), stimulated in me an ongoing interest in the history of the region. I have read the edited and published diaries of most of the participants of the two expeditions, and continue to invest in an array of scholarly and coffee table books that even remotely address the subject. My annual crossings of the Colorado and Dirty Devil rivers to pursue research interests in southeastern Utah never fail to regenerate my own wish to have participated in such an epic adventure. Thus, when I saw the notice of publication of Maurer's book about Dellenbaugh on the second Powell expedition, with the expression in the title "the true adventures," I was expecting something on the order of D.D. Fowler's book about Jack Hiller's, another expedition participant. That is, a pretty serious biography of the man and a pretty faithful reproduction of the daily diary kept during his time in the field. Well, it might be the former, but it is certainly not the latter. Unlike the other expeditioners who kept diaries, Dellenbaugh's original diary has never been published. Perhaps this is because his 1908 "Canyon Voyage" was a timeline-based (albeit compressed) narrative and researchers may have believed there was nothing more of value in the original diary. While Maurer read the diaries of all the participants, including Dellenbaugh's, as well as Dellenbaugh's "Canyon Voyage" and the earlier "Romance of the Colorado River," Maurer's timeline is even more compressed than Dellenbaugh's. Consequently the book lacks the rich detail of Dellenbaugh's diary and earlier publications. For example, unlike the present book, the consecutive daily diary entries of "Looked for the Major today but of course he did not come; carried the rations over," "Looked for the Major again," and "Still waiting,"conveys a real sense of frustration at being in the same camp, on the bank of the Colorado, day after day, laying up under a boat to avoid the oppressive August heat, with nothing to do, waiting for the Major and Prof to come in so the party can continue the trip down the river through the Grand Canyon. Maurer acknowledged that in the writing of the book he "sometimes resorted to the methods of historical fiction to flesh out some of the stories" and that "footnotes would be out of place in a book like this." Thus despite having the best possible materials at hand from which to draw, this book was never intended as a scholarly work. In that context, the writing was a success. Maurer did locate some great historical photographs and drawings not published elsewhere, and that alone is an important contribution. More than that, though, the book was a really entertaining read. I can well imagine some person, like me once, never having heard of either Powell or Dellenbaugh, picking up the book and just marveling at what they did. And, interest aroused, they have an avocation.

Richard Maurer's new book chronicles Powell's second expedition through the eyes, words, and illustrations of Fred Dellenbaugh - a 17-year-old boy from Buffalo, NY who, along with some rowing experience on the turbulent Niagara River and a facility for drawing, had the gumption to make his dream come true. This story is very well written and quite compelling and will appeal to those who love adventure stories set in the Old West. The photographs and illustrations are remarkable. My hats off to the author!

The cd-rom format offers an expanded range of possibilities for architecture publishing in the future! The projects are covered in amazing detail- its possible to pick a point on the plan and view photographs from that spot. In addition you can view enlarged sets of drawings and extensive photographic documentation. Dana Hutt's commentary is well researched and insightful, and the realtime interviews and slide shows with both of them is the next best thing to seeing a lecture in person. A very exciting format!

Let me start by saying that I'm not a big fan of "books on CD." This volume on Will Bruder, the first I've seen from in-D, is possibly the best use of the CD-ROM format that I've seen. With minimal use of text on screen, "Will Bruder-Recent Works" brings his vision and architecture to life in a way that the printed volume cannot. The navigational interface is unexpected, yet highly intuitive. Excellent coverage of the architect's works includes detailed floorplans, lush photography, and 360x360 (full immersion) panoramas that are probably the next best thing to being there. Insightful video interviews with Will are cut into manageable lengths and organized by topic. I can't wait to see more of the Planet Architecture series!

I found the book well written, with Ms Roberts' delivering a colorful portrayal of western history. As a resident of the Nogales - Patagonia - Sonoita area I found her work verifiable and acurate, providing myself and by family a valuable source of information on our local history.

A side note: The Pennington family homestead was recently rediscovered and preservation efforts will hopefully save the remaining structure.

This book was extremely excellent, and life-like. Ms. Virginia Culin Roberts did an excellent job writing this book. Way to go Virginia!